Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I'm a pantster. I've said it before on here but I'll say it again. and I'm a big one. I never do outlines or character sketches or anything organized like that. usually, I have an idea and then I sit down and write. the characters drive it. most of times they drive the story like they stole it and right now I'm having to do a lot of research on things that I didn't foresee. I had a character show up who is a brilliant hematologist. yeah. so guess what? I had to do quite a bit of research on diseases of the blood and then I had to figure out how to tweak them so they would effect vampires. if I had made an outline, I would have known all that and prepared ahead of time but no, I let the character spring it on me. that's not to say that I just write what comes to me. I don't do stream of consciousness writing. I save that for here.lol. no, really. being a pantster doesn't mean that I don't steer the book. I do. sometimes. but since the characters are in the action, I let them do it. I just serve as a traffic cop and referee when necessary.
funny thing about being a pantster writer is I don't do everything like that. you can't be a pantster nurse. you have to be organized and have a plan. the plan can have wiggle room but you still have to have a plan. I have a dear friend who is a dedicated plotter. he is awesome like that. but, he is working on his 5th novel. so it works for him. I don't think he could be a pantster. he'd never get anything written because he wouldn't have an outline to follow. hmm.
pantster or plotter, however you get the words on the page. that is all that matters. and hopefully, my characters will give me hint on how this WIP is going to end. I think I know where they're going but we'll see where it goes!